Halloween and Christmas Square Up on Perth High Street as Switch-On Line-Up Lands Before the Guisers Are Out
Red Hot Chilli Pipers and QFX confirmed for the Big Switch-On, with neep lanterns still lit. Witches accuse elves of 'jumping the queue'; Santa says he was 'only checking the route'.
Halloween and Christmas meet on Perth High Street. Neither is backing down. Illustration: Perthetic Cartoon Desk (digital illustration; not a photograph)
Perth woke up on Halloween to find that Christmas had already arrived, at least on paper, after the line-up for the city’s Christmas Lights Switch-On weekend was announced with the neep lanterns still warm.
The Red Hot Chilli Pipers will headline the main stage, which has moved further along Tay Street beside the Royal George Hotel. They will be joined by 90s dance act QFX, The Voice UK’s Kevon Bennett and a Pitbull tribute act. The lights go on at 6pm on Saturday 21 November, followed by fireworks from the North Inch.
That announcement has caused what one shopkeeper called “a seasonal border dispute” on the High Street. “I had a skeleton in the window on Thursday and a reindeer asking to come in by Friday,” she said. “The skeleton’s not happy. He was here first.”
Local guisers were also unhappy. “We’ve got one night,” said a 10-year-old witch from Letham. “One. Christmas gets the whole of December, a bit of November, and the adverts start in August. And now they’re doing bagpipes on our night as well.”
A spokes-elf for Christmas, who asked not to be named because “Santa does the talking”, said there was no plan to take over. “We were just checking the route for the parade,” he said. “It starts at Thimblerow at 1pm on the Sunday. We’re allowed to look.”
Musicians say the line-up gives everyone something. “The Chilli Pipers play bagpipes at rock volume,” said a Perth piper. “On a cold night on Tay Street, that’ll be heard in Bridge of Earn. Possibly in Fife.” QFX fans are reported to be already practising “Freed From Desire” in their kitchens, which neighbours say they did not ask for.
To keep the peace, the Perthetic suggests a ceasefire: Halloween keeps tonight, Bonfire Night gets next Thursday, and Christmas may enter the city from 20 November, but only if it wipes its feet.
Asked for a final word, the skeleton in the shop window said nothing. Nobody has ever got a word out of him.
The real story: Perth Christmas lights line-up (The Courier)
Letters to the Editor
The views expressed are those of the reader, and frankly that's on them.
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My wee one asked if Santa was coming guising tonight. I said no, he’s busy checking the parade route. She said that’s what Dad says about the pub.
— Moira D., Letham, 31 October 2026 -
Freed From Desire at a Christmas lights switch-on is the most Perth thing I’ve ever heard and I’m here for it.
— Kenny W., Bridgend, 31 October 2026 -
Christmas has no business being announced before the neeps are cold. I’ve written to the Provost. Well, I’ve thought about it.
— Pat R., Craigie, 31 October 2026 -
Red Hot Chilli Pipers on Tay Street in November. They’ll hear that in Dundee and they’ll be jealous. Good.
— Alan G., Scone, 31 October 2026 -
The skeleton in the window is the only one talking sense. Mainly by saying nothing.
— Jean S., Kinnoull, 31 October 2026
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